COVID-19 crisis pushes Bahrain to resume flights from Iran after 4-year halt
The tiny Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is bringing hundreds of Shiite pilgrims home from Iran, with which it has no diplomatic ties and normally no direct flights.
Bahrain is continuing to repatriate hundreds of Shiite pilgrims stranded in neighboring Iran, which remains the Middle Eastern country worst affected by the novel coronavirus pandemic, after having faced criticism for the country’s rights record when it comes to mostly Shiite political detainees.
The Gulf kingdom’s national carrier, Gulf Air, began operating flights to Iran this week to bring more than a thousand Bahrainis back home.
Direct flights between the two countries, which have no diplomatic ties, were halted in 2016 amid allegations that Iran was stoking unrest against the oil-rich state’s Sunni rulers by mobilizing its harshly repressed Shiite majority against them. Iran denies the charges.
Many Bahraini Shiites travel to shrines in the Iranian holy cities of Mashad and Qom, where the COVID-19 outbreak in Iran reportedly started. They typically travel to Iran via Oman and Dubai. Bahrain has suspended flights to Dubai and Oman has suspended flights to Bahrain.
